It feels like there’s a bit more space to talk product around here at the moment. So, I was wondering where folk are with Monzo?
Do the products work for you? Has innovation stagnated or are they charging ahead? What are you waiting for or would just really really like?
If you were the Chief Product Person 
what - small or large - change would you make? What would you do next?
Im quite happy being full Monzo atm. Not looking to change anytime soon. I would like to see an increase in cash deposits per 180 days. Thats the only thing that makes me require a RBS account and it’s a slight annoyance having to transfer money over. I wouldn’t even mind paying a small fee like Starling charge tbh.
I’m fairly happy where its at right now, I don’t think innovation has stagnated as such, we’re just out of the early day blitz which set a high bar.
An actual dark mode.
Control over what’s on the Home Screen.
Choice of card colours.
A new font style within the app.
Trends style widget for the Home Screen.
Maybe even an iOS interactive widget between pinned balances and swipe to view trends without opening the app.
Need to finish the job properly with child accounts, pensions, joint accounts IMO.
Monzo as a bank works very well for me. It’s my main bank at the moment and I believe it will be for the forseeable future.
Monzo as a banking app is still brilliant. I have Extra and have a bunch of accounts pinned, the UI is miles ahead of anything else out there.
I keep trying the UI of other apps, esp. with regards to linking accounts via open banking. They all feel prehistoric compared to Monzo’s approach.
I think innovation has slowed down, but this has to be seen in a mature light. At this point, Monzo’s innovations have to be smaller and slower, so as not to break things and not to release unfinished/broken products (do pensions still not allow contributions…?). I am against innovation for innovation’s sake. Monzo have an amazing product and app that is miles ahead of the competition, they have to use a lot of resources to keep it running, as opposed to piling on feature after feature.
That said, the one thing that’s never worked for me is…
…proper handling of joint accounts (both Monzon and connected ones, also both current and credit card ones) in Trends. I still don’t know of any bank or application that does this. Joint accounts should have a function to set what % each party is responsible for; for example, if my wife and I have £1000 in our joint account, I should be able to set it so that only £500 (50%) shows as ‘mine’ in Trends. If a bill goes out to pay for the electric at £60 (our monthly DD), I should be able to set it so only £30 counts against my own Trends and spending. It’s such as simple thing that no application out there currently supports.
Of course our 50% is an example; there will be other couples who split things differently, say 70-30, and any such feature should accommodate that.
That’s what I would do next as the Chief Product Person. Where do I apply?
firstly, nice to see you @Peter_G.
From a product perspective, I’m in a happy place, with the massive exception of pensions, which I’ll get to in a minute.
The current account part is still my main thing, it’s still for me leading in class, and the surrounding product be it trends or pots still works in a way for me that no other bank does, and I do compare this to Starling, as this is where our joint account lives which I find horrible to use (my wife doesn’t, which is why we’re there).
The savings and investment products are really good, the simplicity of both is a joy to use, and despite the Tangerine Screams effect on my investment pot, I’ll go long on that as normality will return one day.
Perks works for me, I’m probably already up in terms of savings on railcards and train tickets, cinema visits (28 years later is the next one to enjoy the freebie) and the 10 greggs collection is all good.
So Pensions, you can clearly see it’s a good product waiting to break out, but not being able to invest more in the SIPP this long into its existence is, frankly, a joke. My SIPP isn’t my main pension, I’m lucky, I have a Civil Service pension that will pay out in 20 years time, so will be my main source of income, but I do want to access the SIPP in 10 years, and I want to add to it, alas I can’t, and this needs sorting, either by Monzo moving platform, or by just fixing the issue asap. We’re in a new tax year, so this is becoming a real issue. I can buy launching without Pay in, but the cadence of then improving the product needs to be quicker.
I feel like I’m probably just repeating things at this point, but:
Agreed 
Hoping that this launches this year…
100% Agreed
I won’t engage in a topic that starts like this, with a sideways dig. It’s particularly disappointing from someone with a moderator badge.
I think you just did?
I’m not a moderator. Someone who isn’t here any more made it their mission to close that scheme. It was a deeply personal attack on me.
Anyway, as you are here, where are you with Monzo right now?
I use Monzo as my main bank (salary) but would like to see:
Think that’s my bits to add.
Agreed. Even if it were limited to just one card it’d be equivalent to what others offer. I find it frustrating that features that other banks or apps give you for free are locked behind a paywall e.g. the open banking integration, credit scores etc. To be honest I think most of the items in the Extra plan should be free.
I’m inclined to agree.
When Monzo initially paywalled features I thought that it was a necessary evil but might even stimulate innovation. I assumed that they’d paywalled features for a year or two, wait for others to catch up, then skate ahead again with a batch of new features. Sadly that hasn’t been the case.
I think where I am now is that there should be two free tiers - one as now but one if you have your salary paid in and direct debits paid out. The latter one should probably have Extra features - or at least a couple of connected credit cards, a couple of virtual cards etc.
I worry a bit that Monzo is a little too… comfortable.
It’ll get boring quick and with revolut around the corner, 1.1bn profit 
and packaged tier accounts with external app benefits (Tinder, Chess, WeWork, Headspace, Deliveroo etc) it might flex in their favour.
Then credit cards etc will come, monzo who?
I’m fairly happy with the product offering.
For me, the pension offering needs further development. I would also like to see the ability to invest in some more investment options, particularly those at the lower end risk of the spectrum such as those tracking major indices.
Also, the ability to save for fixed durations disappeared when Monzo brought new savings pots in-house. Would be nice to see that.
I don’t have a huge problem with Open banking products being paywalled, and I say this as someone who is very much on the Open Banking train. There is no sustainable commercial model for AISP or PISP services, and unless you’re mandated to provide them like the big banks are, it’s an avoidable cost, which probably gives little upside at the moment.
Monzo can’t cross subsidies via its mortgage profits, and no appetite to have mortgages on the books, so having bits you pay for is going to be the way forward.
I do have a problem with paywalling features that arent finished or foolproof (openbanking)
Theres been too many instances where connections drop or issues with some transactions not updating etc.
I think generally im at the stage now where im happy with monzo but not singing its praises the way i was and was expecting it to eventually have everything in there and ive accepted that.
My pensions, savings, stocks and shares isa etc will most likely always sit outside monzo for the foreseeable and the tweaks that have come are been BAU not groundbreaking.
Yes, the Monzo products work for me. And while being MVP throughout, they’ve worked better than alternatives even without the polish.
Innovation has stagnated because the ground-breaking features that people wanted in an exciting new Fintech has been more-or-less delivered. But growth will continue because it appeals to people who want multiple proven features in a bank with a good app.
Like people have said above, the Revolut shadow is looming ever larger. I’ve not switched yet - but their offering looks very good. It’s just the banking license for the extra security which is needed. As far as Monzo goes, with fewer innovations should come greater focus on finishing projects properly. Then it’d be a better ongoing, compelling package.
Honestly my previous posts still sadly remain.
Monzo’s design is too cluttered for me, too much upsell and I can’t always put my finger on it but often things just don’t work how they should (trends, predictive things etc) that require some form of workaround that I can’t get on board with.
I’m an old 
(word not allowed, of course 
) though; I prefer the very simple original Monzo homepage with just my transactions in full, clear, and controversially I miss the graph!